1. Field of the Invention
The present application relates to implementing a cryptography accelerator. More specifically, the present application relates to methods and apparatus for providing a configurable cryptography accelerator with instruction sets for performing hash operations on input data.
2. Description of Related Art
Conventional software and hardware designs for performing hash operations are inefficient. One technique for securing a communication channel between two network entities such as a client and a server specifies that the two entities perform a cryptography handshake sequence. During the cryptographic handshake sequence, the two network entities will typically perform various cryptographic operations such as encryption and authentication operations to verify the identity of the other and to exchange information to establish a secure channel.
In one example, session keys are exchanged after the identity of the other network entity is verified. However, both software, firmware and hardware techniques for performing hash operations, such as hash operations used in cryptography handshake sequences, have been inefficient and resource intensive. Cryptography handshake sequences and hash algorithms are described in Applied Cryptography, Bruce Schneier, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (ISBN 0471128457), incorporated by reference in its entirety for all purposes.
It is therefore desirable to provide methods and apparatus for improving hash operations with respect to some or all of the performance limitations noted above.